Female martial arts fanatics only love to fight, while men fight for their lives.

98

That night.

Li Huaiqing and Lou Xiao closed the door of the room, while Ai Ying and Er Liu stood guard at the door, obviously having important matters to discuss.

This is an important matter that cannot be known to an outsider like him.

Mo Jingchun was holding the steamed young sprouts. He did not have the tact to barge in. He paused and immediately turned around to leave, being very self-conscious.

Li Huaiqing was sitting at the table in the room, holding a coarse porcelain bowl in one hand and staring at the clear warm water. It was the water that Mo Jingchun had brewed for Lou Xiao, but it went into his mouth.

"The butcher is leaving tonight. Erliu and I will go check it out. You stay in the village and wait for us to come back."

Lou Xiao made the decision right away, which was quite cautious.

"You're just a butcher, there's no need to be so careful." Li Huaiqing had no tea to drink and only had water, but he was as relaxed as if he was sipping tea.

"Since we are going to investigate, we must do it all at once. It would be best if we could go directly to the mining area, arrest the mastermind, and then follow the clues to arrest anyone who dared to buy private mines..."

Lou Xiao had a good idea. Although she knew it couldn’t be that simple, the general direction wouldn’t be wrong, right?

Li Huaiqing put down the rough porcelain bowl in his hand and said, "Too hasty."

He quickly thought of something and said, "Things can't be accomplished all at once. We have to do it step by step and be thorough so as not to wrong anyone or miss anyone."

How can so many things be accomplished in such a busy time?

Lou Xiao thought of Ah Cang's health. She would definitely go to the Wang family to take a look. The cases from His Majesty's birthday had piled up and had not been dealt with yet.

There seemed to be something happening in the martial arts world that she didn't know about.

She didn't want those chivalrous people to be used as enemies of the imperial court.

Senior Sister is trying to establish her authority, so if she commits a serious crime at this time, wouldn't she be just walking into a trap? She will just be cannon fodder for nothing.

She didn't want to delay it for too long. "It's just a mine, there won't be too many guards. Isn't it enough for Erliu and I to check it out?"

Li Huaiqing looked at her. "Do you think there is no one else in the mine besides the villagers? Only the foreman?"

"Even if there are local officials to protect us, they are just petty officials... We can't..." Lou Xiao realized something while talking.

He looked at Li Huaiqing and said, "There can't be another army..."

She fell silent. If it was just a small private mine, there wouldn't be many people guarding it. She and Er Liu could come and go freely.

But if private soldiers... or even gangsters get involved...

"This is a grave crime of exterminating the entire family." She muttered to herself in a low voice, "But if private soldiers are used, how serious will that be... How could there be no news?"

Li Huaiqing drew on the table with one hand, "The county magistrate at least knew that they could gather villagers without restraint. As for the prefect, he might have been deceived or be in collusion with them."

Wanshou had caused trouble that day and still didn't know how to restrain himself. Now that he was caught by them by accident, he always felt uneasy.

"Ai Ying will go with you. Be careful not to be discovered. Don't be impulsive. Think long and hard."

He was not good at martial arts, and was afraid that he would be a hindrance if he went there rashly. What he was most worried about was that if the private mining business was really in collusion with the government, someone would recognize him.

He is not Lou Xiao. It has been such a short time since she came to the capital from the common people that not many people remember what she looks like.

Li Huaiqing's name and appearance are unknown to ordinary people.

Few people in the officialdom don’t know this.

And if someone from his family dared to do this behind his back...

He, Li Huaiqing, must not be implicated in this.

There is no need to explain many things to Lou Xiao in detail. She is a simple person and has never been exposed to officialdom.

As soon as she entered the capital, she attracted everyone's attention and was loved by everyone.

How can young people who have never encountered any difficulties understand the complexity of human hearts?

Lou Xiao agreed with his opinion, and the two of them reviewed the response measures for various situations again.

Including Mo Jingchun's coming and going,

Lou Xiao didn't know how to deal with him. Of course, she couldn't let him know what she was going to do.

Should she mention her departure to him?

What Lou Xiao meant was that she should at least tell him something, or just lie to fool him.

But Li Huaiqing felt that there was no need to worry about Mo Jingchunhua.

"The more you care about them, the harder it is to get rid of them. Once this kind of person finds out how much you care about them, they will cling to you even more."

He gave face by not saying something more unpleasant. Fortunately, Lou Xiao was such a soft-hearted person and did not stay in the capital for long, otherwise she would have been in a lot of trouble.

Lou Xiao explained, "Why would I care? I just didn't know how to deal with it for a while. He didn't do anything out of line—"

You can't just cut it off with one stroke and be done with it.

Li Huaiqing shook his head. "It seems that Miss has never encountered such a situation. If such a person is not rejected severely, he will not stop until he achieves his goal."

"I refused." Lou Xiao affirmed, "I even threw him away, but he followed me here."

But you can't be considered 'strict' either.

Li Huaiqing couldn't say it out loud. It seemed that Mo Jingchun dared to chase her because he knew her temper. She looked fierce.

I am still soft-hearted after all.

There is no point in saying more, Lou Xiao doesn't want to talk about her affairs anymore.

Li Huaiqing tactfully changed the subject.

"The butcher has only been back for half a day and he's leaving? Miss, can you confirm that?"

"He came back only to prepare dry food for his mother for a few days and boil medicine. I went there under the pretext of buying meat, but he was busy the whole time and ignored me."

Lou Xiao frowned slightly, "I still don't know where Sister A Mao is."

Li Huaiqing thought about whether to tell her something, and made a decision in an instant.

"Since she wants to follow, she must be at the mine. But I wonder if there is anything related to this."

Seeing Lou Xiao looking over, he continued,

"The land in the village belongs neither to the villagers nor to the rich. It was bought a long time ago, but no one knows who bought it."

"What did the village head say?" Lou Xiao didn't understand what the problem was.

"Keep your mouth shut."

Li Huaiqing just told her, "I will find a way to investigate while you are away. Maybe it has something to do with the person behind the scenes."

Lou Xiao nodded, "In that case, we will go first, take care of yourself in the village."

Seeing that Li Huaiqing agreed, she still said,

"Why don't you tell Mo Jingchun that I'm going to meet someone to reminisce about the past and will be back in a few days—"

Li Huaiqing didn't answer. Lou Xiao also felt that what he said was inappropriate and immediately regretted it.

"Forget it, leave him alone."

She had nothing to do with him.

It would have been better if Mo Jingchun hadn’t seen her leave.

With these words, he led his men away into the night.

Li Huaiqing looked in the direction where she disappeared, picked up the pen and ink, and spread out the letter paper.

Mo Jingchun, who was guarding a plate of cold steamed vegetables, raised his head and looked in the direction she left, but did not try to catch up with her.

Since you are avoiding him, just pretend you don’t know.

Anyway, isn't there another person here?

Mo Jingchun sensed the frivolous aura of Li Huaiqing in the room, who had never practiced martial arts.

Grab a handful of steamed vegetables and stuff them into your mouth.

——It wasn’t as delicious as the one he had tasted when he was young.